Festival Automobile International 2017

Texts and pictures by Valentin.

As it is every year, the Festival Automobile International opens the parisian events season about cars with its exhibition around Concept Cars and automotive design. Indeed, around 20 Concept Cars meet under the Dôme des Invalides, allowing spectators to see them like nowhere else. We were there of course, and here is our report... Enjoy !

Wednesday, February 1st 2017, 9am, the doors of the Festival Automobile International opens to journalists for the morning, without any barriers around the cars and without too many people. In other words, I will finally write an article about the FAI without complaining about the disrespectful people that we can find during public days. So, let's begin our visit with the Opel GT Concept, showcased for the first time at the Geneva Motorshow 2016.

This two seats little Coupé is trying to bring back into fashion the old GT produced in the 70s, which was nicknamed "The baby Corvette". However, no disgracious retro-style design, Opel took the basic ingredients and sent them to the future : and angry-looking front bumper and a really short rear-end. As far as the profile is concerned, the door handles, the mirrors or even the windows disappeared for cameras, and you open the doors thanks to a "touchpad" integrated in the orange line.

At the back, we can find some sporty stuff like the two exhaust tips, the large fenders or the 18" wheels. But there is a problem, while we're hoping for a nice engine, Opel put a 1-liter 3 cylinder which produces 145hp, allowing the GT to accelerate up to 215km/h. Last but not least, we'll remember the unusual colored signature starting from the front tyres, following the roof line and ending on the rear fenders, really beautiful !

On a different note, Aston Martin brought the AM-RB 001 for its first public presentation. This car with a fighter-jet-like name was developped with the help of the Red Bull Racing F1 team, and is expected to be the next world's fastest car. Around 100 units will be produced, with a road legal version and a track only version. Some say the last one is going to have LMP1-style specifications...

The beast would actually have a naturally aspirated V12 sending power to the rear wheels, but a hybrid system coming from the Formula One technology could send some power to the front wheels. At the end, the car is expected to have a 1:1 weight/power ratio, and the 0-320 acceleration would be done in a mindblowing 10 seconds.

Finally, the car lightweight chassis really needs to be stuck to the ground, and that's why the race version could generate around 4500lbs of downforce by itself ! In brief, the AM-RB 011 is powerful, impressive, but also expensive : 3 million € for the road-going version. And yeah, all the units are already sold...

Let's stay with lightweight powerful prototypes with the 2016 Porsche 919 Hybrid. Silverstone 6 hours, 24 hours of Le Mans, 6 hours Nürburgring, 6h Mexico, 6h of the Circuit of the Americas, 6h of Shanghai, the 919 won nearly every single race in the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship and even brought back home the Manufacturers World Endurance Champion title. Why is it here ? Well, it wins another prize, the special one from the jury for the 18 victories overall at the 24 hours of Le Mans.

So this 919 is the exact one that won the 2016 24 hours of Le Mans in the front of the broken Toyota, and it also won the WEC title. Now on your screen, the never-washed-since 6h of Bahraïn 919 !

Porsche had also brought 917-001, the chassis that helps them to show the car that won the first overall Le Mans titles. But in fact, it isn't ! 917-001 is the car that was showcased for the first time at the Geneva Motorshow in 1969, which was converted into a 917K after that. The real Le Mans winner, 917-023, belongs to a well known person who participates to historic races with another 917, the "5LT" replica, still under a Salzburg Racing livery.

Let's continue our visit with two Concept Cars from the past, the Alfa Romeo Vola Concept and the Fioravanti F100R. Exhibited in tribute to Leonardo Fioravanti, a Ferrari designer between 1966 and 1986, these two concept bring us back right in the 2000s with the F100R "double bubble" windscreen or the huge telephone in the Vola's centre console.

Next to them, the Opel GT Experimental Prototype takes us in another stage of the flashback, welcome in the 60s ! But here, no crazy stuff as what we can find nowadays on Concepts and a production-ready design... However, I'm still thinking about why it wasn't next to the 2016 GT Concept in the exhibition...

Let's continue our back in time trip with the Maserati 420M Eldorado, a one off produced for the 1958 500 Miles of Monza. Sir Stirling Moss was of course behind the wheel back then.

We're now in 1954 and the Jaguar D-Type has just been revealed to the public ! This exact chassis XKC401 is the prototype of the D-Type which has been kept by Jaguar since the beginning, it never raced but some say that it made a record lap during a quiet night at Le Mans race-track... There's one thing I'm sure : that car is stunning.

Let's finish our flashback with some Avions-Voisin. Here, we got a C28 Aérosport (unfortunately a replica...) and the Voisin des Records, who broke 9 high speed records back in 1927.

Back to the future with the Renault Trezor Concept introduced at the Paris Motorshow last year. Low ride height, no front radiator grill, spaceship-like opening and colorful windows, we're now in the future of sportscars. And when Renault make a Concept Car, it isn't just for fun : the 350hp electric engine outputs 380Nm of torque, and the 0-100kph run is done under 4 seconds.

The minimalistic ground clearance (25cm), its 2 meter width body and its 1,08m height roof gives it a really sporty look, like if it was ready to eat tarmac. And what a beauty !

I think you understood it, I love that concept. To be able to get so close to it and to detail it is crazy, and I let you with a nice gallery of some details shots. Oh yeah, it won the prize of 2016's most beautiful concept car. Here it is, a stunning Renault that will never make it into production...

French manufacturers were one more time here in force with the concept E-Tense by DS Automobiles.

Citroën was here too with the CXPERIENCE and the Aircross Concept, a good-looking SUV introduced in 2015.

But that's not all, the Design Prize winner brought also the C3 WRC and its production version.

This year, the best place was for the Jaguar I-Pace for its european premiere. This SUV, the first full-electric car of Jaguar, has 400hp, 700Nm of torque and can pack up to 5 people in a complete silence. This sporty SUV goes from 0 to 100 kph in no more than 4 seconds, and can recharge its batteries to 80% in around 90 minutes. Tesla, be ready, a seriously mad competitor is coming in 2018 !

Up next is 2016's most beautiful supercar prize holder, the Ferrari GTC4Lusso. I don't know who chose it, but we're clearly not in the same way of thinking.

To finish, some cars of the RM Sotheby's sale that takes place the week after in the same tent. Among the other cars, a Porsche 911 R Porsche Exclusive, a 917/10 Can-Am Prototype and a Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3.

This 32th edition of the Festival Automobile International was again a good one, even if I was hoping for more Concept Cars instead of production ready cars (hey BMW, could you bring the 2002 Hommage in Jagermeister livery next year please ?). The press access helped me a lot to take proper pictures, thanks again to the media service ! I let you with 2016's most beautiful car chosen by 148 000 people : the Alfa Romeo Giulia. Thanks for reading !

Here is the complete prize list of the Festival Automobile International 2017 :